To me the main thing is that the Regional series are so under-subscribed as people prefer to just turn up and do Nationals, even if they're F5's etc. It’s all very well having the most over-subscribed national series, but Club and Regional races have really gone down hill since I packed up around 2001/2 – and that’s got to be the grass roots for the hobby as surely if these meetings don’t start growing again, you will literally have 130 people that do nationals in 1/10th R/C and that will be it (extreme I know but you have to look at the worst case scenario)! Plus if nobody else can get in, then the number of people competing can’t increase anywhere if they’re only set on Nat’s.I've always thought that to do Nationals you should have to compete at Regionals first to gain some sort of ability/standard - which is basically how any Motorsport works. You don't get amateur or newbie riders at the Motocross British GP rounds - the riders there have had to qualify by gaining a certain standard, just like our "F" Formula's. I have loved the chance of racing again, albeit only at local(ish) events such as Regionals etc, but it's given me a good chance to gauge if i'm still any good or not, and really get to grips with setting up the cars and racing competitively again. The problem with trying to organise one big invitational is that you would rarely find all those drivers free on the same weekend, at least if you let wild card entries there's always that chance that maybe just 1 (i.e Craig) or 2, 3 racers might turn up unexpectedly and can still race. I know they do it for the big Neo race, but 1/8th scale is far more popular across Europe anyway so it’s easier to get the sort of numbers they do.I think the chance to see the likes of Craig show up at an off road meet and possibly make the A should be something everyone would want to see or witness, he’s pretty much the most famous UK racer of all time and certainly one of the most successful. It doesn’t just apply to Craig but it’s great to see any of these top guys show up and demonstrate to all the kids and newbies just what can be achieved in the hobby. The last thing you need to do is push these kind of guys away as they simply won’t bother to come back next time……I vote for wildcard entries as stated by Chris/Jimmy, this leaves it open and as Chris said actually gives more Little Johnny’s a chance to race anyway so where’s the problem?I personally think if you can’t get into nationals and find this a big pain, you should keep racing at Regionals etc until your Formula is high enough to not have to rely on getting your entry in first – it will only improve your driving anyway as you’ll be in heats with people that are a higher standard then F5 or a complete beginner which personally I don’t think belong at nationals.
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